West Virginia Professor Touts Benefits of Shale Gas

A positive opinion article by Donald W. Lyons, professor of engineering at West Virginia University, recently ran in the Huntington, W.Va. Herald-Dispatch. Among the points he makes are these:

The United States needs to greatly reduce the amount of imported oil. To achieve this, we need more energy conservation, more wind, solar and nuclear energy and more bio-fuels. But even as we work to increase all of these, we also need more domestically produced natural gas. The failure to diversify our energy policy will lead to further consumer pain and a continued dismantling of key portions of our economy.

The economy of West Virginia can benefit by the production of Marcellus shale natural gas. West Virginia is fortunate that the state will continue to be a major contributor to the “fuels of the future” and the good jobs associated with energy production.